The only certainty is that whichever team wins the East will win no more than one game in the Finals. Detroit stands a good chance of coming out the the East, but only if Ben Wallace is really recovered from his late season knee sprain. Without Wallace, the Pistons will be fortunate to get out of the first round.

I have no idea regarding who will win the West (and, therefore, the championship). However, I will be pulling for anyone except the Lakers or Sacremento. As a Michigan fan, I cannot bring myself to root for any team with Chris Webber.

The East is doomed, that's why I didn't even bother to predict for them. They're nothing more then a sacrificial lamb for the Finals. You win the western Conference you win it all. And I also want LA to get creamed, and I'm looking forward to a top-notch series between the Spurs and the Kings. that is going to be one for the ages. You guys are deeper then we are in terms of talent, but I think the Spurs play better as a team and are certainly on quite a roll heading into the playoffs.

Of course it's just a SWAG but why not? Hell, that matchup might be the biggest upset of the first round.

The Bucks have picked up their game since the trade. They won 8 of their last 9 to finish the season. That one loss was in OT by 2 pts at Chicago. Ask Shaq how tough it is to win there now. Kukoc and Thomas are finally contributing. The Nets are going to have to out score them to win. Good luck. The Bucks have a significant advantage over other East teams in that they have more than one proven scorer. You can't concentrate on one guy.

The Nets on the other hand won only 3 or their last 8 to finish the season. Not exactly hitting their stride. It's not like they could afford to lose those games either. They only finished one game ahead of Philly and that's only because Pilly lost 3 of their last 4. They stumbled and bumbled their way to the second seed.

Mutombo is playing like Ewing was last year. The Nets are better when he's on the bench. But they will give him significant minutes because he is still Mutombo. That will prove to hurt them.

And if I'm wrong then the NBA is rigged. Just kidding. If I'm wrong then it won't be the first time I've blown smoke up someone's ass.

GIR, UNLEASH THE MONKEY!
MONKEY!
"I am the Doctor of Death, and I have come to cure you of your life." --Endless Mike, The Adventures of Pete and Pete

I predict that the Lakers will keep Phil Jackson's amazing streak alive for a while...he has won 24 straight playoff series. It's a mind-boggling stat and one of the most unbelievable runs in the history of sports.

As others have said, the East is doomed. Detroit was the only 50-game winner, whereas the West had six teams with 50+.

No doubt LA is good, but I don't see them ulling it off. Both the Spurs and Kings are going after them with a vengeance, and both tasted blood in the regular season. yes, the playoffs are a different picture, but the Kings came within a hairsbreadth, a few bad calls in game 6, and a few clanged free throws in game 7 of knocking LA off last year. This years Kings are better. The Spurs outplayed LA in 17 or their 20 quarters across 5 games, their fourth quarter collapses were what cost them the series. The Spurs are a far better tema this year. LA is emphatically not as good a team this year as last, they're mortal, and the Spurs and Kings know it. Factor in the revenge factor for the last two seasons (LA ended both teams last two seasons), and those teams are out for blood.

Add in a Minnesota team with a strong MVP candidate (and possible winner, it's KG or Duncan) that's desperate for a first round win that is going to play the Lakers as hard as they can, and massive work and fatigue by LA just to make the playoffs, and I don't see them repeating. They go down in the second round to the Spurs (and that's only because the Spurs get the first crack at them, if they were 6 seed the Kings would gladly knock them off in round 2 as well).

Great first quarter for the Spurs. They started out slugish, but a Malik Rose dunk sparked them to a 13-2 run to close out the auarter. Manu had a great intercepted pass, and failed to beat the buzzer to get the shot off, even though it landed. Oh well. Three more quarters left.

Well the Bucks disappoint. Horrible horrible game for Milwaukee. Prior the playoffs starting, I predicted that they would pull of an upset over New Jersey. (I still think they will.)

But to come out of the gates and go down 8-0 and not have Gary Payton do ANYTHING just killed them. Oh, and being outrebounded by 20-something didn't help at all.

New Jersey came out and did what they do best, run an open-court game. The Bucks looked lethargic. A bad game all around for Milwaukee.

Now then, I find it difficult to believe that Gary Payton to play any worse than he did today. The Bucks need to slow New Jersey down and that all starts by slowing Kidd down.

I look for Payton to really go after Kidd next game. And we'll see if George decides to start Haislip and Ervin Johnson again. Perhaps Pryzbilla will be back in the starting lineup with EJ coming off the bench. Thomas and George are still beefing, so who know's if George will start him.

The Bucks can shoot the lights out, so if they can get a few shooters hot (Cassell, Redd) and get New Jersey in a half-court game, they have a very good chance of winning.

Milwaukee, like any lower-seeded team, just has to get one win on the road to get home court advantage in their hands. They played like shite today, but if they win Tuesday it's a whole new series.

Oh, and in the West my upset specials are Minny over L.A. and Portland over Dallas. Just gut feelings.

Jason-
Proud Recipient of the C. Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence

Talk about a stunner. The only word to describe that loss was divine intervention. First Stoudamire tsinks a once-in-a-lifetime three to send it into OT, the Marbury jacks the ball up from a crowd and it goes in. Unbelievable. I'm glad the first round is 7 games.

On the other hand, the good news is the Suns couldn't have played any better, and we couldn't have played any worse, and it was still a 1 pt OT game. So I still think we pull it off, although I revise my estimates to Spurs in 6 HARD games, maybe even 7. But I do think the Spurs will pull it off.

I happened to flip on the TV and caught the last 21 seconds of the Suns-Spurs game in OT. I couldn't believe that finish where the Spurs were up by one point, get 2 chances to salt the game away with free throws, and they only make 1 out of 4 free throws, thus making it a 2 point game, and with hardly anytime left, Marbury launches a 3-pointer with less than a second left on the clock that banks home for a stunning 1 point victory over the Spurs. Amazing!

Yeah, that loss falls under the heading of "Act of God." I'm real glad that the league went to best of 7 for first round, or the Spurs would quite possibly lose this series. As is, they couldn't play any worse then they did, and Phoenix couldn't play any better, and it was still a one point OT loss that required divine intervention to occur. No way Phoenix can play like that for the 3 more games they need to knock off the Spurs. [prays fervently that Phoenix doesnt' play like that for 3 more games]

All I can say about the Spurs - Suns series is that Spurs is going to have a hard time cuz Parker can't stop Stephon M. Suns have a big chance of pulling an upset here..GO SUNS!!! I just hope that the Fakers will lose this season though.